Taming the Beast World with a Frying Pan-Chapter 95: Dora Would Never

"What?" Ren whispered, the word escaping her lips like a dying balloon.

Viper blinked, looking entirely unconcerned. "I said, I am guessing. The mist shifts. The trees move. It is a feeling."

"A feeling?" Ren’s voice pitched up an octave. "You are navigating us through a death swamp based on a vibe?"

She looked around frantically. "We are in a boat made of rotting toothpicks, surrounded by water that looks like industrial waste, and you don’t know where we are going?"

Viper frowned, clearly annoyed by her hysteria. "If you wanted a map, you should not have destroyed the map."

Ren froze. Her mouth opened. Then it closed. Then it opened again like a goldfish gasping for air.

The memory hit her like a brick.

She remembered that moment perfectly. She had stood in front of Syris, holding the dried skin parchment that detailed the escape routes. In a fit of dramatic passion, she had ripped it to shreds right in front of him. It was a grand romantic gesture. It was an act of love. It was her way of saying, "I choose you. I am not running away. I am yours."

It was a beautiful, symbolic moment.

And right now, Ren wanted to go back in time and punch herself in the throat.

’Stupid, romantic Ren,’ she thought, clutching her head. ’Why did it have to be the map? Why did I have to destroy the GPS to prove a point?’

"One?" Ren screeched, causing a sleeping bat to fall out of a tree nearby. "You only had one map? Who runs a kingdom with one map? What kind of logistical nightmare is this? Do you not have a backup? A doodle on a napkin?!"

"We are snakes," Viper stated, as if that explained everything. "We smell our way."

"Well, it smells like farts out here, Viper! How does that help?!"

The commotion stirred the Sleeping Beauty on Ren’s shoulder. Syris groaned, lifting his head and rubbing his amethyst eyes.

"Why is there screaming?" Syris murmured, his voice thick with sleep. "Are we being attacked?"

Ren pointed a shaking, accusatory finger at Viper.

"He’s lost!" Ren shouted. "He has no idea where we’re going! We are floating aimlessly in the Crock-Pot of Doom!"

Syris looked at Viper. Viper shrugged.

Syris yawned, stretching his arms, his black silk robe slipping down his shoulder. "We will get out eventually. Do not worry, Little Chef. The swamp always spits us out somewhere."

Ren stared at him. "Eventuality is not a strategy, Syris! ’Eventually’ is how people die in horror movies!"

Syris patted her cheek condescendingly. "If you keep screaming like that, you will attract the Lurkers. Then we will have to worry. Until then, hush."

Ren slapped a hand over her mouth, her eyes darting to the water.

She slumped back against the wooden trunk, vibrating with suppressed panic.

"Dora would never," Ren muttered under her breath, rocking back and forth slightly. "Dora never went anywhere without the Map. She asked the Map. The Map knew. That is how Dora and Boots stayed alive. They didn’t rely on vibes."

She looked up at the sky. The sun was rising, but the thick canopy and the heavy mist turned the light into a sickly, bruised purple. It offered zero warmth and zero directional help.

Ren looked at Syris again.

"Okay," she whispered. "You know where the Fox lives, right?"

Syris looked at Ren’s hopeful face. He looked at Viper.

Viper scratched his head, uncertainty flooding his eyes. He looked at a twisted tree, then at a patch of bubbles, then shrugged again.

Syris turned back to Ren and smiled a dazzling, reassuring smile.

"Do not worry," he said, patting her head. "We will find him quickly."

Ren stared at him. She looked at Viper, who refused to meet her gaze and was suddenly very interested in a floating stick.

Her face fell into her hands.

She was going to die here. Either Kael’s timer would run out and he would turn into a Shadow Beast and massacre them all in this tiny boat, or something with too many teeth would snatch her for breakfast.

Ren squeezed her eyes shut. ’I miss Google Maps. I miss Siri. I miss that annoying blue dot that tells you to make a U-turn.’

She thought about the System.

’System? Do you sell maps? GPS? A compass?’

[System Response: Shop Access Denied. Outstanding Balance: -3,110 XP. Please settle your debt to resume services.]

Ren groaned. ’Of course. Poverty kills.’

Even if she wasn’t in debt, what would the System tell her? "Turn left at the creepy tree that looks like a skeleton. If you see the bubble that looks like a skull, you’ve gone too far."

She was spiraling. She was mentally writing her will (leaving her debt to Viper) when she felt a shift.

It wasn’t the boat rocking. It was the body on her lap.

Kael’s ear twitched.

Once. Twice.

Ren froze.

Kael’s eyes snapped open. The red glow pierced the gloom. He sat up slowly, moving off her lap with fluid, predatory grace. He didn’t stretch. He didn’t yawn. He went instantly still.

Ren looked at Syris.

The sleepy, relaxed Snake King was gone. Syris’ posture straightened instantly, his spine snapping rigid. He furrowed his brows, his amethyst eyes narrowing into slits. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

Viper stopped rowing. He lifted the pole out of the water and held it like a spear, his body tensing.

The silence hit Ren like a physical blow.

The buzzing of the giant mosquitoes had stopped. The chirping of the frogs had cut off. The swamp had gone dead silent.

The only sound left was the thick gloop... gloop... of the sludge against the hull, and a low, vibrating growl rising from Kael’s throat.

Ren’s heart began to beat frantically against her ribs. The hair on her arms stood up.

"What?" Ren whispered, her voice trembling. "What is going on?"

Syris clenched his jaw. He didn’t look at her. His gaze raked the surface of the dark water, scanning for ripples.

"There is something in the water," Syris said ominously.